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5 September 2003 was a Friday, and I had just finished my first week of school at West Chester University. I was renting a single bedroom in a house owned by a nice elderly couple named Blanche and Harry. Harry fought in World War II and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge. He was listed as KIA for four months until his family learned that he was a prisoner of war, and when he returned they got married. Blanche was a piano teacher, which I thought was pretty awesome since I'm a classical pianist too. I only went to West Chester for one semester, and finished up my bachelor's degree at Kutztown after switching from music composition (lol) to fine art (also lol). I found out yesterday that both Blanche and Harry have passed away, in 2006 and 2012, sadly. It's a shame to see so many people from their generation going, as they have such interesting stories to tell. I hope that the carpeting in their bathroom lives on in their memory!
Anyway, that was the day I finally decided to get an account on DeviantArt like all my cool friends on the Yahoo groups had been doing, and thus began the fantastic internet journey of uploading all my crappy Mario and Sonic fan art onto this page. It's crazy to see where I started, and even though I still feel like I have a long way to go with my art, it's super cool that I've achieved my dream job of doing it professionally.
To mark the occasion, I've redone the oldest submission in my gallery! Thankfully, in ten years, my taste in high brow art has not changed.
Oopsies
Oopsies II
Also in ten years, I have yet to receive any hatemail over the fact that my screen name is a pun on Saddam Hussein's cousin, who is a war criminal (and my middle name is Alia). My mom actually came up with it, and it seemed humorous at the time, and now it just stuck 0:
Anyway, that was the day I finally decided to get an account on DeviantArt like all my cool friends on the Yahoo groups had been doing, and thus began the fantastic internet journey of uploading all my crappy Mario and Sonic fan art onto this page. It's crazy to see where I started, and even though I still feel like I have a long way to go with my art, it's super cool that I've achieved my dream job of doing it professionally.
To mark the occasion, I've redone the oldest submission in my gallery! Thankfully, in ten years, my taste in high brow art has not changed.
Oopsies
Oopsies II
Also in ten years, I have yet to receive any hatemail over the fact that my screen name is a pun on Saddam Hussein's cousin, who is a war criminal (and my middle name is Alia). My mom actually came up with it, and it seemed humorous at the time, and now it just stuck 0:
2017
After a brief period working at another larger game studio, I decided to start the new year as a self-employed artist once again.
2016 was a pretty rough year for me at times. I realized that many of my long-held career dreams and goals really aren't feasible, or are no longer the possibilities that they once were. I struggled a little, and suffered a period of burn-out, something I never thought would happen to me as I love making art.
But I got through the year, and going into 2017 I think it's time I re-evaluated what my main goals are as a professional artist, where I want to be, and what path I should take to get there. Overall, I'm
More surgery
I underwent another ligament reconstruction at the end of January. I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but there is a good possibility that #3 will be the lucky number and this will finally fix my messed up wrist after almost 15 years of pain and problems. That means I have to get through another month of my arm being in a cast, so hopefully it will be worth the inconvenience!
I'm still working, but it's a lot harder to hold/control the pen, and I'm still getting a lot of random nerve pain and stabbiness from the four pins holding my wrist bones in place.
FOUR MORE WEEKS. I can't wait til I can start drawing/painting/modeling again
Whoa, a DD!
Wow, thanks so much to MidnightExigent (https://www.deviantart.com/midnightexigent) and Phreja (https://www.deviantart.com/phreja) for featuring my Dota 2 Crystal Maiden Winterbringer loading screen! That was a big surprise this morning; I'm super thrilled and so glad you enjoyed it!
Also thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! :)
Movin' again o:
I've been living outside of Seattle since September, and just got everything approved and set up to go sign the lease at a new place in the city on Wednesday! It's a one-bedroom and a little smaller than my current place, but it has a dog run on the roof (which is awesome for safety at late hours), and I get to live on the 9th floor, which will be awesome for getting over my fear of heights! I've got relatives coming out to visit in early July, then I'm going back to Pennsylvania a bit for my mom's birthday (and because I love PA in the summer), and then my parents are coming out to stay with me for a bit before The International 5 tourname
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I also just realized that my 10 year anniversary has also come! My prior work is under the name charukyraaliakaeyla, which I abandoned because no one could spell or pronounce it. Also, my prior work realllyyyy sucks. Wow. Pretty glad I abandoned that account, or I'd probably feel the need to sort through it all.